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Opinion Contributor

Taming terrorism in North Africa

The Benghazi attack illuminated the threat from militants in the region, the author says. | Reuters

By REP. MIKE ROGERS | 2/3/13 7:54 PM EST

For years, North Africa has been a simmering caldron of Islamist militant activity. The Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi and at a natural gas plant two weeks ago in Algeria tragically illuminated this threat on television screens around the world. The United States urgently needs a comprehensive strategy to fight this new front in the war on terrorism.

In this sprawling desert region we find a massive influx of weapons from Libya, well-trained Islamic militants, encouragement from top Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a terrorist safe haven the size of Texas. In that swath of land, women not properly covered are beaten or raped, and sports, music and art are banned. We saw a similar playbook in Afghanistan during the 1990s.

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The brazen attack last month by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists on a natural gas facility in Amenas, Algeria, resulted in the taking of hundreds of hostages, including 10 American citizens. This type of successful, large-scale attack will surely lead to more recruits and more resources for this Mokhtar Belmokhtar-led group, an offshoot of Al Qaeda in the land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

This is not the first we have heard from AQIM. It claimed responsibility for killing an American missionary in Mauritania in 2009. It recently conducted several IED attacks against convoys of foreign nationals working in the energy industry as it seeks Western targets in North Africa. Ansar al Sharia also attacked the American Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia last September.

The threat from Al Qaeda-linked terrorists is continuously evolving as they seek new safe havens from which to recruit, train and conduct operations against Americans and our interests. They are attracted to areas of weak governance like the tribal areas of Pakistan, Yemen and now North and West Africa. From these areas, terrorists tell us they want to strike American and other Western targets.